Crime and Justice Data

• Bureau of Justice Statistics The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the data-gathering and statistical unit of the U.S. Department of Justice. The main BJS web site has tools for creating tables online, as well as prepared spreadsheets. If you want a full dataset to analyze, along with a codebook, then you should go to the Federal Justice Statistics Program or the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data web site.
• Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center Maintains the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) database, which contains information about suspects and defendants processed in the Federal criminal justice system. Using data obtained from Federal agencies, the FJSP compiles comprehensive information describing defendants from each stage of Federal criminal case processing. This site has data sets to download and anlayze as well as tools to create tables online.
• Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse Provides a vast range of information about federal enforcement activities -- criminal, civil, and administrative -- as well as detailed information about federal staffing, federal funds, and the diverse characteristics of counties, federal districts, and states. Currently featured are separate TRAC Web sites describing the enforcement activities and staffing patterns of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the U.S. Customs Service.
• National Archive of Criminal Justice Data preserves and distributes computerized crime and justice data from Federal agencies, state agencies, and investigator initiated research projects to users for secondary statistical analysis. Some of the more popular and interesting items from the NACJD include:
• Uniform Crime Reporting Program Since 1930, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has compiled the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) to serve as periodic nationwide assessments of reported crimes not available elsewhere in the criminal justice system. By 1985, there were approximately 17,000 law enforcement agencies contributing reports either directly or through their state reporting programs. Each year, this information is reported in four types of files: (1) Offenses Known and Clearances by Arrest, (2) Property Stolen and Recovered, (3) Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR), and (4) Police Employee (LEOKA) Data.
• National Crime Victimization Survey, 1992-2002 The National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS) series, previously called the National Crime Surveys (NCS), has been collecting data on personal and household victimization through an ongoing survey of a nationally-representative sample of residential addresses since 1973.
• Survey of Inmates of State and Federal Correctional Facilities Series The surveys gathered extensive information on demographic, socioeconomic, and criminal history characteristics. Also obtained were details of in-mates' military service records such as time of service and branch of service, eligibility for benefits, type of discharge, and contact with veterans' groups. Other variables include age, ethnicity, education, lifetime drug use, drinking pattern prior to arrest, prior incarceration record, and prearrest annual income.
• Federal Court Cases: Integrated Database Series The purpose of this data collection is to provide an official public record of the business of the federal courts. The data originate from 100 court offices throughout the United States. Information was obtained at two points in the life of a case: filing and termination.
• British Crime Survey Series The primary purpose of the British Crime Survey is to estimate how many of the public in England and Wales are victims of selected types of crime over a year, describing the circumstances under which people become victims, and the consequences of crime for victims.
• Correlates of Crime: A Study of 52 Nations, 1960-1984 This collection contains data on crime and on relevant social, economic, and political measures hypothesized to be related to crime for 52 nations over a 25-year period. These time-series data are divided into five substantive areas: offense, offender, and national social, political, and economic data. Nations included in the collection were drawn from seven major regions of the world.
• International Crime Victimization Survey (ICVS) Series The project was set up to fill the gap in adequate recording of offenses by the police for purposes of comparing crime rates in different nations and to provide a crime index independent of police statistics as an alternative standardized measure. The ICVS is the most far-reaching program of standardized sample surveys to look at a householders' experience with crime, policing, crime prevention, and feelings of insecurity in a large number of nations.